Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pagePirates (1986)
Director: Roman Polanski
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Polanski won the Palme d'Or at Cannes with The Pianist in 2002. The last time he was in competition there was with Pirates. Few would disagree that he won with the right film. In genre terms, Pirates is undoubtedly a pirate movie, not a mystery film, yet it's a mystery why Polanski swapped urban paranoia for the skull and crossbones. Polanski and Gérard Brach had collaborated on scripts for Repulsion and The Tenant, but their sure touch deserted them on the high seas. Shipwrecked Captain Red (Matthau) and his sidekick the Frog (Campion) are picked up by a Spanish vessel and clapped in irons, but Cap'n Red foments unrest in the crew by smuggling a rat into the men's soup. Cue swashbuckling and choreographed scrapping. It's fun intermittently, but a bit of a stretch at two hours, and Matthau's Cockney accent is about as convincing as the rubber sharks. Perhaps the key to understanding what it's about lies in considering Polanski's displacement: of Polish extraction, exiled in Paris, faced with arrest should he return to the US. The only flag he could comfortably wrap himself in was the Jolly Roger.Author: NRo
User reviews of this film
-
- mr.mike said...
- Posted on Oct 16 2007 22:58 Matthau keeps it from being unwatchable, but it is not his finest moment.
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Roman Polanski
Producer: Tarak Ben Ammar
Cast: Walter Matthau, Cris Campion, Damien Thomas, Ferdy Mayne, David Kelly, Charlotte Lewis, Richard Pearson, Olu Jacobs, Roy Kinnear, Bill Fraser full cast
Duration: 124 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now